JC men’s and women’s basketball teams have been busy dominating tournaments, bringing home awards, and giving the other teams something to talk about. The women’s basketball team is maintaining a record of 14-3 and the men’s team has a record of 16-5.
The men’s game against St. Frances, who they beat in the MIAA ‘A’ Conference Championship game and the Baltimore Catholic League Tournament, wasn’t as exciting as anticipated, but they did pull out a win 63-57.
They suffered close loses against Sagemont in Weston, Florida by four points, Archbishop Spalding by two points, and against Washington D.C.’s Bullis Prep in the Roundball Classic by seven points.
“We played okay, but we could have done better as a team instead of individual,” freshman Justin Jenifer said.
The Roundball Classic took place in North Charleston, South Carolina Dec. 27-30 where the team ended up taking the second place crown.
“I think our best moment was after we lost the game, we played so hard that our coach took us out to Kobe’s and we ate there and we had a good experience,” senior Jarred Jones said.
“We played well as a team and there was a lot of competition . . . This trip helped us bond because we just kind of got to spend more time with each other and we got to talk to each other more,” junior Marcus Monroe said.
The men’s basketball team took on Glenelg Country School on Jan. 20 and pulled out another one point win against them, after beating them on Jan. 13.
The women’s team currently has a 14-3 record, was featured on Fox Baltimore News High School Game of the Week, and recently won first place in the Diamond State Classic Tournament Championship, which took place at St. Elizabeth School in Wilmington, Delaware.
“It was great to go back to the Diamond State Classic. It’s such a great tournament with high competition. The championship game was a challenge since we were playing St. Elizabeth who was hosting the tournament. The gym was filled with St. Elizabeth students and it was a fun atmosphere to play in,” senior and team captain Emily Soller said.
Soller also received the MVP award in the tournament. “Getting MVP was a huge shock for me; I wasn’t expecting it at all. It was such a privilege to win it though,” Soller said.
“I think we played very well. Our first game was a little rough, we won by 10 or so but we could have played a lot better and we knew that if we wanted to the win the tournament we needed to come out stronger,” senior and team captain Maria Edwards said.
“We played the home team of the tournament and Emily played incredible and it felt really good to win. One, because we won and, two, beating the home team while they had a crown and all felt great. I am excited for our conference play to pick up and we have a lot of potential to get very far this year, so it is very exciting.”
“I was really happy with our win at Delaware. We all played really well together, especially the championship game. It seemed that everything just came together. This season has been great and I am so excited to get into the playoffs, I think we will be very successful.” junior Mackenzie Reese said.
The women’s team even beat their number one rival Notre Dame Prep 55-47 on Dec. 16, who they lost to last year in the MIAA ‘B’ Conference championship game by three points.
The women’s basketball team takes on Maryvale at 4:30 on Jan. 27 at JC.
Imani Love is a Sports Editor for The Patriot and jcpatriot.com.